Level 30 of 36 · Book IV: Moving around
Sight-reading exercises with accidentals
Accidentals: sharps, flats and naturals written next to a note, outside the key signature. Here they come as passing notes, a black key (or a natural) on the way between two notes of the key.
- Hands together
- G, F or C major
- 4/4 time
- = 52 to start
8 different exercises, each 8 bars. Listen first, or play it yourself: the music waits for each note.
What level 30 adds
An accidental lasts until the end of its bar, and a natural sign cancels it, or cancels the key signature. The exercises are in C, G or F major, with quarters, halves and some eighths in the right hand and whole and half notes in the left.
What to watch for
- Until the barline: a sharp in the bar applies to the same note later in the same bar, even without another sign.
- Naturals: in G major a natural on F means F, the white key, for the rest of the bar.
- Chromatic steps: accidentals here mostly move by half step to a note of the key.
How to practise it
- Scan the exercise for accidentals before you start, and see where each one leads.
- Remember the barline rule: a new bar resets every accidental.
- An accidental usually moves on by step. If you know where it is going, you know where it came from.
Each exercise is new music, written for this level by the same generator the app uses, so you can’t have learned it by ear. Read it once before you play, keep a steady beat, and play on through mistakes. Play it yourself checks your notes from a MIDI keyboard, the mouse or your computer keys, and Print gives you the music alone, to read at the piano.
A new piece every day, at your level
Pianomi is the app these exercises come from. It listens to your MIDI keyboard, grades every note and every beat, and moves you up the 36 levels as your reading improves. It’s free.